LeBron James had 35 points, nine rebounds, and six assists in the Cleveland Cavaliers 109 to 102 victory over the Toronto Raptors. Kyrie Irving had 27 points, and nine assists while Kyle Korver had 18 points off the bench. Serge Ibaka had 23, DeMar DeRozan had 22, and Cory Joseph had 20 points in the loss. The Raptors kept the game a lot closer than this series has been but just couldn't pull it out to extend the series.
LeBron James' dominance
It's 2017, Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors are dominating the league and everything in their path.
And yet, LeBron James has an amazing playoff. The Cavaliers flipped the switch, and that is directly due to LeBron James. The team is defending better than the regular season, they are scoring at a really high rate, and it all boils down to LeBron James.
LeBron is averaging 34 points, 9.5 rebounds, and four assists on 56 percent shooting from the floor and 48 percent from three. The biggest knock on LeBron James for years has been his shooting. Everyone agrees on his ability to attack, find the open man, and run an offense like an engine, but he has always been heavily critiqued on his shooting. James has improved that over the course of the season, not just the playoffs.
While he still only averages five threes per game, he's looking strong from there, and it just adds to his ability to take over a game and a series.
Raptors are in purgatory
There's a thing called NBA purgatory. It's a real idea, and the Toronto Raptors are in it right now. NBA purgatory is when you are a team that isn't good enough to be a championship contender but isn't bad enough to get a game-changing player.
The Raptors are in this weird state that puts them a big step behind the Cavs, and a little step behind the Celtics and Wizards.
Where they go from here is very hard to tell. They've got a solid group of guys to stay right where they are at, but they need one more dominant player to really put them over the top.
The Cavaliers now have a full week off with the Wizards defeating the Celtics in game 4 Sunday night. One thing for sure in these Eastern Conference playoffs is that the Cavs are one dominating beast and when given time to rest, they are going to shatter the competition in the east.
The Wizards and Celtics are attacking each other, and if that series goes to 7 games they'll then have to go into a series against the Cavs that are refreshed and ready to go. The Eastern Conference needs to watch out.
